♪♪♪ Narr: When the COVID pandemic shut down California public schools in 2020, many campuses within the Anaheim Union High School District became food distribution centers Sabina Giakoumis, a teacher at Magnolia High School, took notice.

Sabina: We saw how many people needed produce.

So, we knew that there was a need, um, that- and a problem that we could solve for our community by building the farm.

Narr: The farm is the Magnolia Agriscience Community Center, or MACC for short.

Building it was Anaheim's response to California's ambitious $3 billion initiative to dramatically expand its number of community schools- public schools that not only educate students but also provide support and services to the neighborhood as a whole.

Jaron: What were standing on used to be an empty dirt lot.

Students have identified food deserts as a very real issue that is facing our community.

Where theres fast food restaurants all around us, but theres not a lot of grocery stores or places for families to go to get organic, healthy foods.

So- and this is contributing to obesity and health issues that were seeing in our community.

Mimi: The only foods that are really there for the community are junk food and things that do not benefit or give us any nutritional value.

And us students found community gardens as a very good and efficient solution.

I'm seeing the vegetables and fruits being grown in our MACC, the Magnolia Agriscience Community Center, being taken into our cafeteria.

I've also seen it helping families and parents and students by providing them with locally sourced, healthy, nutritious food.

Monty: So, every month we have this thing called the community dinner.

So, anyone in the community can come to our school they could, they could buy our produce, they could taste our produce.

Jaron: We have boxes that we sell to local communities, to local families that are, that are taking these boxes and they're bring- bringing these foods into their homes.

So, this is like their quasi grocery store.

Instructor: For every pound of textiles produced in Indonesia... Narr: The farm feeds the community, but it also helps educate the students.

Their instructors are interns from the University of California, Irvine.

Sabina: They teach lessons around pollination, around sustainable agriculture, around pesticides and runoff, growing good in a changing climate.

Using UCI science students as our teacher.

So, it gives them a little teaching experience.

It gives us smaller class group sizes, uh, to learn about urban farming and sustainable agriculture.

Jaron: And then the learning that, that is happening here with our students.

Theyre able to go back and speak to their families, speak to their friends.

And we're seeing a ripple effect in terms of making healthy- healthier choices.

Narr: Sabina Giakoumis manages the farm, but it's only one part of Anaheim's vision for their community school program.

Sabina: Our vision of a community school is where the school is the center or the hub of the community, where not just students but parents, family members, community members, um, have access to the resources that the schools take on.

We now have lots of social services that we offer, um, to students, and a lot of times parents as well.

Narr: The social services offered to students and their families are a result of the California Community Schools Partnership Program made law in 2021.

It's a $3 billion investment to significantly expand the number of community schools across the state of California.

Its goal: address social inequities made worse by the pandemic.

Jaron: So, I think with California, and to their credit, they recognize that as a school, we have to start functioning a little differently.

But they are investing in our schools, in our students, in our families to create a space to be able to authentically address the instructional needs, but then also the other needs that our students and families have.

Narr: The Community Schools Initiative gave the district the funds to open a new Community Resource Center at Sycamore Junior High School, a hub where families can get the basic help they need so their school kids can succeed.

Jaron: We're standing on our, our farm.

And here's an example of students applying what they're learning to solve a local issue, which is food deserts.

Which is, again, a very different way of looking at community schools than most other districts who are only focused on the wraparound services, right?

The mental health, medical, dental kinds of needs that families and students have identified.

We're doing all that.

That is critically important.

But we're going to step in beyond in bringing these things into the classroom.

Narr: Sabina Giakoumis believes California's initiative to increase the number of communities schools is vital.

Sabina: In a time right now in America where so many of our schools are building up walls around our schools for safety, that does feel a little bit like we as the community are being pushed away or what happens inside of schools is secret.

And so, it is important that we, that we reach out to our communities and let them know we're here we have resources, come in, tell us what your community issues are so that we can become an asset and problem solve alongside with you.

Narr: Through the California Community Schools Partnership Program California is investing more than $3 billion to help schools better support their students.

Four things that all Community Schools must focus on are: Coordinating a range of academic, physical, social-emotional and mental health services to meet their students unique needs.

Actively tapping into the knowledge of family and community members to serve as partners.

Promoting collaborative leadership through professional development for educators and school administrators, and expanding learning opportunities like internships, tutoring, and before and after school and summer programs